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Murder-suicide suspected in deaths of Woodbury man, 2 children after RV fire at Grand Canyon

Staff and wire reports

Posted:
10/05/2011 12:01:00 AM CDT

Updated:
10/06/2011 11:25:38 AM CDT

Oct. 3, 2011 courtesy photo of an RV that burned early Monday 10/3/11 near the South Rim entrance of Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona. Three people, Tony DeHaven, 35, of Woodbury and his children, son Jace, 10, and daughter Jersey, 5, were found dead in the motorhome after the fire was put out. The investigation into the deaths of three points to a possible murder-suicide, National Park Service officials said Wednesday. Photo courtesy of KPNX-TV.

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. - The investigation into the deaths of a Woodbury man and his two young children whose bodies were found inside a charred motor home at the Grand Canyon points to a possible murder-suicide, National Park Service officials said Wednesday.

Without elaborating, Grand Canyon National Park spokeswoman Shannan Marcak said the bodies appear to be those of an adult and two children and that no one else is involved.

Although authorities did not release the identities, the North St. Paul-Maplewood-Oakdale school district said they were two students who attended Skyview Community School in Oakdale and their father.

School district spokeswoman Jennifer McNeil identified them as:

- Jersey DeHaven, 5, a kindergartner.

- Her brother, Jace DeHaven, 11, a sixth-grader.

- Their father Tony DeHaven, 35.

McNeil said the family had been vacationing in Arizona. She said a grandmother of the students informed school officials of the deaths Tuesday.

"Our hearts go out to the entire DeHaven family, McNeil said. "Jace and Jersey DeHaven were both bright and wonderful students."

McNeil said news that the deaths were potentially a suicide and murders won't change the way Skyview staff help the children with their grief.

"It's a tragedy either way," she said. "We'll still be there to support the kids in the same way."

The father and children lived at a Woodbury townhome off Radio Drive, a few miles from the school.

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Russell Andrews, a neighbor who said he often walked Jersey home from school, said the girl never mentioned going on a vacation or trip to the Grand Canyon - which he said was strange because she talked about everything.

"Jersey was here Thursday, and she never mentioned anything like that," he said.

He said he never saw an RV at the family's home.

Andrews, whose girlfriend's daughter was a close friend of Jersey's, said the father was relaxed and friendly whenever they talked.

"He was always smiling, warm," Andrews said.

He said the children's mother, Angela Elizabeth Velasquez, also lived at the Woodbury residence, though he had not seen her recently.

Velasquez did not respond to a message left on her telephone Wednesday evening.

Firefighters in Arizona responded to a report Monday of smoke in the motor home's cab and found the vehicle engulfed in flames.

The remains of the father and children were found inside.

One autopsy was conducted Wednesday but the results weren't released. Marcak, the National Park Service spokeswoman, said she didn't expect positive identification until later this week.

The RV was in a parking area along the most-traveled road into the Grand Canyon's popular South Rim near a sign where tourists often pose for pictures.

Authorities had reopened the area to the public by Wednesday afternoon after removing what was left of the RV, Marcak said.

The deaths come only weeks after an Oakdale double murder-suicide took the lives of the parents of a sister and brother who also attended Skyview.

The Sept. 15 deaths were discovered by the sister, a first-grader, after she returned home from school.

Her third-grade brother was outside when she found her parents and a live-in nanny dead.

It is believed the father fatally shot the mother and nanny, and then killed himself.